Only 13 percent of the world’s population is trilingual, or can speak three languages fluently, according to ilanguages.org. Sophomore Victoria Kelly is a part of this 13 percent, speaking Russian, English and Hebrew fluently with some proficiency in French and Spanish.
Kelly, born in St. Petersburg, Russia, moved to North Carolina with her brother and father in 2017. Before her move to Chatham County, Kelly lived in Israel and Russia for the majority of her life.
“My dad worked for an American company and had to go to America every once in awhile and my mom wanted to just stay in Russia and live there so I stayed in Russia with my mom,” Kelly said. “Then I just wanted a change of place I guess, so I asked my dad if I could live with him in Israel because he moved there, so I did.”
As for why Kelly chose to once again move, this time to the United States, it’s all about education.
“I’ve been told that if I do want to finish my education, like go to college in the U.S., then it would be easier to finish high school here and then proceed onto college,” Kelly said.
Through living in different countries, Kelly’s experiences have influenced her art, as Kelly finds photography and other forms of art her passion.
“The three countries [I have lived in] have extremely different cultures,” Kelly said. “You’re exposed to different things in each one and that just teaches you to appreciate culture and art in other places. Or fashion, especially fashion. Fashion in Russia is extremely different from American fashion so it just shows you different points of view. That definitely impacts how you think, what you think and what you do.”
